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Is India shining?

A girl cried out to the God! She was in her mother’s womb, silently preying ‘Oh god, bless me, let me see the beautiful world and enlarge my territory!’ Let your hand be with me, and keep me away from harm so that I will be free from the pain and “God granted herrequest!” She entered in beautiful world but before she could see it, she was killed by somebody! Why?

I wonder why our society has still not granted same right to a girl as a boy has. Why new born baby girls are still killed? Does a woman has right on her womb? Or does a woman herself has a right to sell her child just because she wants a better life?

Though it’s tough to accept but it’s happening from the lower class to the upper-class elite family in everywhere. Needless to say, the parents are the first killers of their own innocent girl babies, and also some of doctors are quite responsible for this brutality.

Don’t be surprised if we hear that one or both of them have been killed by somebody or both have committed suicide. Also there are women who give birth to a baby girl and then kill it, inspite of being called as ‘janani‘! Why they do this? The reason they give is this one, “better it could be a boy than to suffer like me!” Is it acceptable? Now, don’t get me wrong but this is the story of Indian women…..and still we say proudly “India Shining“!

How do you believe in ‘India shining’ where probably you have the highest death rate of innocent girl babies? How can you say ‘Mera Bharat Mahan’!?

I think if women are educated and independent, they will be able to take any decision boldly to save this brutality. For that women must be encouraged to educate!

************* Note: I am thankful to Mehekfor inspiring me to write on this issue. Thanks a lot Miss doctor!

59 Responses to “Is India shining?”

Jitender Singhsaid

No doubt INDIA is shining of course, but every nation has its own drawbacks. See, the issue addressed by Rewa is really a serious one and there are other such issues as well. But who indulges in such crimes ? They are among us. Who provokes them to do this ? Definitely their ‘rudiments’ and ‘attitude’. I would like to point out that society will not grant anything to anyone. We need to have our rights on our owns. We need to come forward to have our rights. Tell us how many of us raise voice when a crime is being committed in front of our eyes ? (Watch the movie ‘Halla Bol’ on this theme!) It is very easy to say but much difficult to implement. I think we should try to make ourselves good mentally as well as socially and rest everything good will follow…..’Rome was not built overnight’….it will take much time to get India free from such bad things.

INDIA is shining and will always shine. I am proud to be an Indian irrespective of serious drawbacks because, we must not overlook India’s ‘Good Sides’…our India is superior and best in many good things…

once i asked my batch mate Dr.Nabanita -” What would you like male or female baby. . .?” She said of course “Ladka ! ” .I hate girls ! If this is the condition in such intellectual group then what to think others ?
She is in heighest level of education. . . How much to educate her. . . ?Is only education sufficient to deal the problem ?

@Rewa jee,

First mentality of our society have to change. . .Along with the education. Then the legal aspect have to be promoted.

Dr.Jawedsaid

Hey Nidhi,
how many Nabanita is bewkoof. . ?
It is the complex of present society that enforce the people to do So. So many ladies desire it . . .Even my other female colleagues.
Me not going to publish the name due to some ethical problem.But my experience of labour room is that the attendant (Sas ) and even the patient just after the delivery become upset if there is girl. . . Why is it ?One of the lady having 3 daughter beared 4th one, weeping loudely. . . . . “meri sas mujhe talak dilwa degi “. .

It is the thought of mother that the son will give security &support to her .This compell the parents especially mother.And also , It is electra complex theory that deals it.

it seems to me,thre r many women who don’t hav support frm deir hubby, cos their poor husbands just dont hav d guts to handle d situtaion nd at the same time if a man doesnt hav guts to tackle d situtaion,he doesn’t have to get married.it is the duty of a husband to support his wife bt woman do have a strong say on problem.

S Vinodsaid

I loved Rohit and Nidhi’s comments…V hate facing hard facts instead theorise the problem..itz indian mentality..the root of problem is in societal values…we r hypocrats…
1. The highest sex ratio in India is among Tribals–They are most illiterates and so called uncivilised..and cut-off from so called main stream.
2. The lowest sex ratio is in Highly developed, educated States and Castes.
3. The evil was started by the then elites..KING’s of Raj.
4.In Hindi belt how many boys are ready to marry without Dowry…I have seen during my IAS preparation that in Bihar if a lad qualify pre/mains/interview thre are fixed rates for them…most idiotic way of marriage…
6. We dont like to talk abt sex openly..in turn becum sexmaniac and within clos relations crime is committed..no1 would like to c his/her daughter suffer…
5.Anyway…dont try to change others change urself if u really want to change..The Campaign of Times of India-“SAVE THE GIRL CHILD” was commendable.And Rohit with which channel u work…quit if u with–India TV, ZEE n Star..they really spoiling society.

S Vinodsaid

control emotions….it was a neutral and unbiased….Even i put example of Rajasthani Kings along Dowry in Hindi Belt (not only in Bihar) abt Bihar -that was my personal experience with my Bihari friends n Roommates who talk sensible, rich in intellect and accept weaknesses, like i wrote abt rajasthan, without muddling unnecessary…….keep smiling n thinking so deeply..

Thank you bringing such a serious topic for discussion.
Yes, I am agreed with the comments that its people’s mentality which compel them to prefer for a boy child,as it could be support in their old age.They consider girl child as a burden and the the maximum credit goes to our dowry system.Arrival of a girl child means more and more savings.As soon as she reaches the marriage age, you have to wander in search of a groom for her.You have to give Dowry and even after all these thing,girl’s parent have to keep silent and they are in a lower position/status compare to the groom’s family in the society.
Girls have to adopt their husband’s name and they loose their father’s name.SO theiris a fear of loosing the identity of the family.
Last but not the least, our some of our scred books also play a vital role by mentioning that,”beta ke haath se hi purvajon ko tripti milati hai.”
So we have to change all these cheap mentality and of course only then we could change the society.
Yes, situation is improving gradually but the tempo is very slow.

now the reality has come out from the curtain. . .
Whatever she has put is the reality. . . In few sentences whatever she has said is the fact of the present society. . . I agree 200% with her.
Aie Vijaya, give your opinion to solve this problem also. . .

Mai kanha tumhare against hoon. . . Of course they should be punished ,if they kill the baby. . . But it would be better to reform them. . . It would give better result. . . How much fair our law is you know very well.. . .

Amitsaid

Vivekanandsaid

India Shinning !!! Most favourite topic for Indian researchers !! First, I would like to Elaborate what actaully shinnign and in what perspective actaully India Shinning?? Some perspective i can give you Is higher growth that is baove 9% prediction by Planning Commission of India is above than 10%, According to World Bank and IMF its already to be above 8%. Investment Climate if you talk the India is the second most favoured Nation for FDI, just after China. Although if we talk about several sectors just Energy sector which is creeping to 3% , all sectors are overwhopping, Manufacturing Sector and Basic Industries backbone of Indian Economy is performing exceptionally well inspite of tight regime of Interest rate. Most promising sector Service Sector and Real Estate whcih is making us proud.India could emerge as Hspitality hub, due to lesser rate of Health and efective cost,India could exlore its Travel and Tourism Industry fro making and earning foreign revenue, what about our poor, Our data shows that in India more than 30% population are living BPL, which is same for us, But in real thing Govt initiative and Our UNO intititiave wold give proper window for that, like as Bharat Nirman, JNUMM, NREGA, PGSY
and so many intiative . in this regard UNo is also promiting India by UNDP, UNICEF, Who initiative.
India is country of mass divergence in which every one want to balem others, now its time to take responsiblity on own shoulders. Mkae india prposer and fell Proud, Then India would shine forever

Vivekanandsaid

Every human being we are concerned through UNicef, IHRC. but it takes time and no revolution can start in day, it takes time we are in process just we have to wait. Its high time now no doubt clock is alraminng in real core of heart, but still we dont have time for that , for Everything we have to wait , and one day when the every individual would realise actaul humanity , then we can think our problem ahs 50% solvedwe can aware what we are doing, but belive us after some day atleast we would be gud in HDi and our problem graudlaly would be solved on both front whther Economic or Human.

Vivekanandsaid

Its never means Reservation mean not shinning. I told its shinning. its a process of transition which takes time.
And if you would see about USA there is still disparity among black and whites, Protestant and catholic, whats this? we are in the process of growth. its important to be on the same way, because gradually we are reaching at certain extent where we would find at least relax,

Regarding Dowry at least India is the single country at least we have so much liberty , and caste discrimination, we have achieved certain mile stone but still we have to achieve more and more. then we can find anything in real sense, Its our unfortunate that every time we check the measures in initial and we get back, first speed up and at least achieving 70% then we can take some measures, so India is no Doubt shinning , but social problems every where which can be modified by changing the society because man makes the society , never society made any human being,

And still we are trying to do something better but in my own quote i want to say, “Anzam Gulishtan karne ke jab ek hin ullu kafi tha anzam gulishtan kya hoga jab har shakh pe ullu baitha hai.” So whenever we start any program we fight from social evils so it will take time to totally remove this because for this Literacy is must, and we are going in forward direction so every evil would be removed.

I hope first give efforts and India shinning and i didn’t tell India has matured like other developed countries so we are in the process of excellence towards perfection.

Vivekanandsaid

Now India is shinning on the Economic Front and FDI FII, Knowledge hub, Manufacturing HUB, Hospitality and Just compare everything with earlier days then you can say anything.

India is again on the path of becoming Jagad Guru,
if we would find in World Top most Universities Indians are head and Indians are teaching English very where even in UK and USA,
So many things even our HDI is improving GDP GDS and CBR, is upswing SDR. Infant Mortality rate is declining .Litearcy is going up,
But still miles we have to cover.
thanks
Vivekanand

Vivekanandsaid

Normally, Rise in Price level is called Inflation,
In Economic Term Inflation justifies in two ways whether its Demand Push Inflation or Cost Push Inflation,Whether its Creeping Inflation or walking,In every Developing country walking inflation would be there till reaching full employment,its economic theory.

In India we take WPI( Wholesale Price Index) is taking for calculating Inflation , in other countries we take CPI ( Consumer Price Index) for that, So in real sense in wholesale market the price are genuine but in retail market its so high, so govt is taking consideration fro CPI, and it will implemented soon.
India has high inflation rate in 1996 after that its high time fro inflation but factors are also there high petroleum prices, and we subsidized every time that thing how much we need to more, we would take more burden.In Index making we take 300 items so whenever even anything increases its price normally inflation goes up.so dear you talked about High Inflation then its story of just 2-3 months and Govt is trying for that, earlier it was in single digit for many years and even less than 5%.
And always Inflation is associated with Income if the income level is rising prices would go up and what extent the Industrialist would take burden by high interest rates, even no one want to pay taxes, so every citizen have to take step,
and if they are earning more its good but the goods price shouldn’t increase, it won’t be.

So Dear Inflation is never issue Govt is trying and RBI also so you would see improvement in next couple of months.

to convince ourselves, we can say that India is shining we are proud to be citizen of this country.But considering only 2 or three facts, doesn’t make india shine.
We are looking forward to celebrate our 61st independence day.Literacy is going up but still there is a big difference in literacy rate among male and female(75% for male and 54% or woman).
as far as talents are concerned,ok i agree with you that we are having talents but at the same time we are facing this brain drain problem.And when you are talking about talent, please think ,how many nobel laureates India has produced.Our best Business School IIM stood at 75th Rank in the World.
Our country stood second interms of population.Of course china is ahead of us.But how many awards we bring to India from Olympic and how many awards chinese brings.In simple words, there is no comparisons.China has utilised its human resources and controlled its population growth.But we are still having a growth rate of 2.67 child per woman.and Our big population has become a problem for us.It compelled us to import grains which we never thought.

Vivekanandsaid

Dear Now i would focus of B Schools
IIM Ranking is on 75th. Do u know how the ranking is concluded what are parameters, I am saying Infrastructure, World class Interface, International Collaboration, International Students , Faculty, and Research fields.
IN these IIM can’t go ahead the world B School.
Because still we are not going for research, because we want to earn money that’s mental status.
Now i am coming towards Olympics and mam i consider one thing sports comes later whenever you fulfill every criteria and Govt has more problems ahead which is more important than sports, so we would do better in that also but after 5 yrs first we have to make Higher education and facilities good. regarding Male female govt initiative is very aggressive and i every time tell it would take time no one has magical wend or stick , so wait for that,
We should fell proud what we have achieved fast no country had achieved that pace.
And China, have they produced any world class thing never but we do except some areas we are ahead of china if you would talk about future prospect then i must say India would surpass china.We are always in Internal conflicts and Politics bad corruption and though if would see Chinese are more patriotic than India,
so citizens have to take steps , govt is doing hard just implement and support then we can fell our country great.

rohitsaid

Weel Friends Sorry for long break i was on a work. spl sorry From Rewa.

dosto ek baat to hai topic badia hai or lamba bhi….so one by one

Dr Abhay. me ek baat maanta hu Nari hi Nari ki dusmaan hai, iskelye hum man hi responsible hai. OR Dr nambita is not alone..its problem comes from more then 1500years, so it’s not easy to fight with this problem so in my opinion only one solucation can work on large scale…educated ever women…u know that if u teach a man, he will teah a man, if u will educated a women she will educate whole jenration…. (perhaps u know the story of Maharani MADLSA……REWA I THINK U TOO KNOW)

Rewa
last week i saw this directly in field where the women change the whole society mindset at some palace

@Nidhi
Nidhi Rape is another biggest problem and it’s totally diffrent. I worked on it too, but here we are only on baby killing so i want to talk here abt baby kiling only. and u to agree with me situcation can change if we will work togeather…em i right? it’s fact too..U Know How Much people work on it. Once i visited alone in a village, Women was very angry, Becz i forced some family to send there girls child to school. Women want to kill me too. becz if they will go school then who will work with them at home. Man Was not much against me.

@s Vinod
Mr Vinod it’s not important in which News Channel and on which post i am working. Important for all of us is that what we are doing. and don’t blame only news Channel. i Know what they r doing . I want to tell u one truth that mostly people who join Media are who failed in IAS/or in UPS..so they r not real media person. they r just want power and mostly r same…who failed in UPS Exam….
@Vijay Smiriti
Vijaya ,”beta ke haath se hi purvajon ko tripti milati hai.” is not written in VEDA’s. Only Some Pujari apna ULLU sidha karne ki liye last 1000 years se puran ke naam per aisa kar rahe hai..
rohit

rohitsaid

@Vivekanand ji
I am agree with u but not fully. Mainly em not happy with the health sector. Why we feel that health sector is very shining. Dear Mr Vivekanada ji when millions Indians are dieing people die only becz Health Service is Coslty. People are coming form outside ang geting good services. becz just they have money. But Can u tell me where the Poor People will go……

(here too some are doctor, and they too know how much there friend too take intrest or work propley in Govt Hospital. EM not blame on anybody)
I just want to say that there is lot of problem, but u try to solve it and come forward, not only blame.

And About IAS or Govt Employers
so everybody knows that how much they are working..(some of my Relative too…huh!!)

Vivekanandsaid

HI All,
Thanks for reply, First i want to say now a days the hospitality sector is improving and the corruption is every where, but dotn forget one things some people are working there also and why only govt employee its the moral reponsiblity of every one not a single one, and earlier farmers were diening to more credit so govt gaev loan waiver scheme, but if you talk about health sector now a days govt and private bodies both are working for improving the sanitaion and Health facility . I agree we have to do more and more but it takes time again dear. I never blame to anyone and i do eevrything what i want to do.

So some of the Govt officals are wrong but not all some of them are working that’s why you ppl are taking relax and peace.
so dear eevry citizen have to be aware and then try to raise the issues among their representatives electrol should have aware then the problem would be sloved,

I woudl appreciate if some one has query they can mail me or call me .

Thanks and Regards

Vivekanand
Senior Consultant
United Nations Development Programme
Economic and Rural Research
Country office
New Delhi
SAARC Region
Lodhi Estatevivekanand_nanda@yahoo.com
+919818116881

Dear Rohit,
Me working in field of health. . . Now the health fascility has improved a lot in govt. sector as compared to 10 yrs back. The problem is that the person has not good faith in govt. Service. They think that private sector works better. They belive in pomp and show.When i work in hospital ,they think the management is not proper but they satisfy in my private clinic. Why ?The mentality of the society have to change. They should have good faith in us. Gov. has provided many of the advanced diagnostic instruments and machine to serve the people and we are dealing the problem. No doubt ,our health system is improving. The need is more working hand and the fascility to doctors that is lacking.

rohitsaid

Well Abhay,
I am agree with you? but dear friend perhpas u know the real condition of the Govt Hospital. I Know many doctors left the Govt job and now working in rural area. Even i know that due to population Govt Hospital is so crwoed. more then 40% can treate anywhere easily, But they have faith in AIIMS only. They don’t want to go anywhere even in RML. (Mostly the people of Bihar and UP. After Supratim Dutta case AIIMS again set the standard for others. But dear the same AIIMS is facing threat due to doctor’s and politician igo problem. But it’s fact that even more then 60% doctor in Govt hospital is nt working properly. And due to this IN Delhi-the capital of india-Hospital condition is not best. so how u can anyone imagine that in remote areas.

So it’s our duty to come forward and make a plateform from where we can do something. i face many this problem many time when nobody is here to come and help someone.
Rohit

rohitsaid

Hello Mr Vivekanand ji
“”So some of the Govt officals are wrong but not all some of them are working that’s why you ppl are taking relax and peace.””
I am agree with you, but perhpas u know that how much govt servent are doing there job correctly. Perhaps u know that even after the “Right to Information” Act lot of things on enquiry is pending in govt off. u can say that they have work load. But I am not agree with this point. Once i visited in a offic the govt officer was complaing abt this act. whne i inquried abt that how much application reached then i was shocked. they got only 18 request for Information in last 18 month, and they worked and answred only on 4… i was there more then 3 hours and i realized that Govt System is realy in bed condition.
Rohit

In my view, Education and Financial independence in India will resolve a lot of issues. There are lot of social stigma which exist just because we are not well educated and so society has made woman feel that they are dependent on man and doesnt have any identity without them and also we have a deep fear of insecurity inside us especially related to financial aspect. We kill baby girls because there is lack of social security for them in this country…because people ask for big money for their marriage…because we see a big financial burden attached with them…so we kill and get relieved before they come to world. Isn’t it? All these situations affect our mentality and then we start behaving like that as Sasu maa does with her daughtr in law when she delivers a baby girl…..

The moment this country will get a notion of independent girls like West did in past…all social issues related with them will vanish because then they will not be a financial burden for parents. The day education in india starts teaching to girls that they are free and its not only they who are dependent on man but man are also equally dependent on them …. Society will change drastically. Its all because of so called social dependence and financial dependence of woman on man which has created all these nonsense. And this dependence can be removed only when girls in India will become financially independent which is happening now. For example a girl who is software engineer is now not ready to give any dowry and they know that they are quite independent and can survive. I agree that as parents belong to last generation and they have lived their lives in old society and so they are bit concerned but the day this generation will be parents..they will not worry about their daughters at all. This change in attitude is coming fast and hope will continue…..We just need to educate ourselves and our neighbours and definetely sometime we need to enforce the law as well to manage few people. So India is shining Rewa but definetely we need to polish it more and more for betterment 🙂 ….

S Vinodsaid

so diversified views have been posted till now.
* The crux of debate has turned out to be Private Vs Govt.,India Vs Abroad, Corrupted people Vs uncorrupted etc.
* All Prenatal checking/killing is done in private clinics.Till now there is not a single case highlighted in Govt. Hospitals.
* There is provision for minimum beds for poor people in Private Hospitals as per guidelines bcoz infrastructure to them is provided at nominal rates.But in practice no private hospital do it.
* We all know donations in private colleges n schools(All Black Money).Who owns them? (dont say Politicians n Civil servants without proper facts..bcoz they arnt).
* The Tax evasion is very high in India.The corruption amount is 0.0002% compare to tax evaded by Businessmen.Some people will say itz not corruption bcoz none of their family members work in Govt.
* If our family works in engg. field we say they r the best, if in medical we say doctors are the best,if in business we say only businessmen are good.even v cross all moral limits and dont hesitate to write statements like–“SAB BHIKHARI HAI” for other professionals.
* Except DD News and NDTV its even difficult to watch news channels with family.Still we have excuses like its being done by UPSC failed candidates.A labour commissioner has reported that highest blackmailing is done by Media People -runs in billions of Rs. in india.
* We r very ahead of China almost in every field.China has faced highest undisclosed nuclear disasters in the world.The biggest slum in the world is in China.In china there is only one state owned news channel-no news against govt is aired.No tourist is allowed in interior china.The Rich-Poor gap is highest in China n Russia.
* when we are caught without driving licence we try to settle with Rs. 10 or 20 instead of a Penalty receipt.If we make a purchasing worth of several thousands and told to waive off few hundred instead of cash receipt most people do it.Still these people will say the are real uncorrupt Indians.People are honest only when they are capable to be dishonest even then remain honest.No administartion can be run without vested authority whether itz Private, Govt.,India,USA, China etc. but we hate when we dont have that authority.Dont we luv promotions? if yes thn all are power hungers.
* Av. voting is 50-55%.Those who cry loud never cast vote.They have many excuses one most common is-The candidates are not worth..but gud candidates do not get tickets bcoz gud voters never go to polling booths.If we know that every one casting votes thn worthy candidates will surely get tickets.We have so many excuses to blame others.
* if we or sum1 close to us has done wrong we try to influence from all possible sorces to bend all possible laws.This is how societal values degrade and every individual is responsible for it.
* India’s strength is UNITY IN DIVERSITY we can not think alike but atleast can debate on 5-points at post no. 16 by Dr Abhay.
** Lets have positive thoughts n pledge to bring back SONE KE CHIDIYA soon.
S Vinod
IAS

S Vinodsaid

rohitsaid

Mr Viond,
Your point is clear, me very happy. Here me or anyobody else is not blame on others, we are just here to tell and talk about the situation of our country. and how can we do best. Mediaperson to comes from society, so they r not God. I know better things, there is problem that whereever u want to do something (in Govt or in Pvt sector too) you can’t do it easily. Even in media there is lot of pressure of Politicans or etc. Even you know that as a Govt Officer if u will try to change soemthng, u will get transfer in reward. (Kiran Bedi case is not much old). SO we have only limited option. Change the whole society with force, try to change with our limitation, or only complain. But i think here, Most of us doing something, not only complaing.

rohitsaid

We may look history, geography, economic growth to feel proud of our country. But in my opinion, it is nothing to do with humanity when it comes to the point of killing baby girls. Are we really civilized people or where is your civilization lost? We must not forget our civic sense or human value whether you are a politician, IAS, engineer, doctor, CA or holding any well respective degrees or profession, it’s useless when we talk about humanity! Humanity comes before all these degrees or economic growth!

rohitsaid

choudharijisaid

FEW GOOD WORDS ON TERRORISM
The other day I mentioned to a friend that I was about to write an article on the subject of ‘Terrorism’. “Yeah, right,” he said. “You write something about terrorism and the next thing you know your name is on a list, and from there to Guantanamo Bay it’s just a short trip; the good news is that you will be wearing an orange jumpsuit!” We both laughed yet in that very moment it hit me: the fear that is being created about terrorism had even entered our sannyas life and I had almost accepted the notion that writing on this subject could be precarious!

Now there’s our Master speaking his entire life on all topics under the sun, including many ‘very dangerous’ matters and did he ever consider repercussions? Of course not. Fear is not a word he adhered to. This is the very trap mankind falls into again and again: some powers create fear in the general population in such cunning ways that nobody dares to speak out. So whatever position somebody might take on terrorism there surely will be someone else who feels wronged, who feels that person needs to be silenced, who defends his or her faith and ultimately god ‘to the last drop of blood’. I don’t see why god needs mortals to sign up to defend him/her but never mind that for now.

Historically, the term terrorism was first coined during the French Revolution (1789–1799), a period of political and social upheaval during which the feudalism of the aristocracy and clergy were radically changed under a great loss of life and suffering. The goal was to introduce quite enlightened principles of nationalism, citizenship and inalienable rights for the general population. The revolution brought about violence, repression and warfare that involved several other major European countries. Far from being peaceful and free, in the following century France experienced the Napoleonic Wars, two attempts to restore the monarchy, a dictatorship and two additional revolutions. Nothing changed in the programming of the people nor did they attain freedom.

“I have looked into the scriptures of all the religions, I have looked into the ideological literature of all the political parties and I am amazed: they go on piling up lies upon lies. And the whole of humanity is asleep – not only does nobody object, but nobody even suspects.”
(Excerpted from: Sermons in Stone, Chapter-12, Question-1)

Terror acts have been committed among humans since the dawn of life, and not only among tribes and nations but often, also psychologically, among families and in relationships. Nowadays the word terrorism is purposefully mainly connected to Muslim extremists. Most infamously it was George W. Bush after 9/11 who declared, “Our war on terror begins with Al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated.”

This is a very one-sided and simplistic view of course. The leaders of the very groups he is attacking are saying the same things to their people!

We all have witnessed what has been going on under the cloak of this term, from the unjustified war in Iraq, to slaughter in Afghanistan, the seemingly never ending battles between Palestine and Israel, the conflicts and wars in many African countries to the creation of the Gestapo-like department of Homeland Security. Fear of terrorism has entered the collective unconscious. This is a horrendous intentional manipulation of the masses, and freedom of the individual is nowhere to be seen.

“Now the world war has become almost impossible; otherwise there would have been no terrorism. Enough time has passed since the second world war; the third world war should have happened near about 1960. It has not happened. This has been the routine for the whole of history, and man is programmed for it.

Terrorism is going to become bigger and bigger, because the third world war is almost impossible. And the stupid politicians have no other alternative. Terrorism simply means that what was being done on a social scale now has to be done individually. It will grow. It can only be prevented if we change the very base of human understanding — which is a Himalayan task; more so because these same people whom you want to change will fight you; they won’t allow you to change them easily.”
(Excerpted from: Beyond Psychology, Chapter-18, Question-1)

Even though every being senses deep within the quality of freedom and would like to live in this state, man still sleeps. Even if large groups of well-intended people gather to demonstrate against their government’s actions, even if hundreds of thousands rebel against a war, they still move in a kind of sheep-like way, chanting the slogans given to them. Even though people vote for a president with the hope he will bring about the necessary changes for their freedom, usually the very person they vote for is also fast asleep and acts unconscious.

“You can’t be free unless absolutely whatsoever happens spontaneously in you is allowed and accepted. Man has been programmed, you have been given blueprints – what to be, how to be, what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. And those programs have been put so deep down in your being that you have become unconscious of them. It appears as if you are acting out of freedom; you have been tremendously deceived.

Even when you think you are acting out of freedom, even when you think you are acting out of your own conscience, you are not. The society is controlling you in a very subtle way. The moment the child is born, the society starts programming the child. The society treats you like a computer; it goes on feeding and programming you. By the time you become a little alert, you are already programmed – you are already a Christian or a Hindu or a Jain. You are already fixed; you are no more liquid, you are no more flowing. And you will function out of this fixity, out of this obsession, that the society has put inside you. It is like an electrode put inside your brain. You will not know anything about it, but it will control you. That’s what conscience is.”
( Excerpted from: Take It Easy, Vol.-2, Chapter-10)

Osho once said that his religion is nothing but the science of deprogramming: “That’s why I go on destroying your conditionings. My whole effort is to deprogram you and make you clean –as clean, as pure, as innocent as you were when you were born.

You were not born a Christian, you were not born Jewish; you were born just an innocent potentiality of growth which has been stopped by the vested interests. And those vested interests are still in power. They are doing their best to destroy any possibility for human evolution.

My people have to fight for their own sake and for the sake of humanity. First, become enlightened, and then spread your light to anybody who is interested.

Everybody is interested. Who would not like to become more conscious, more alive, more loving, more compassionate? Just models are needed. People are needed who can create a tremendous urge in others that they can also have the same joy, the same dance, the same song and the same fragrance.

The politicians and the priests are still not on their deathbed. We will have to put them on their deathbed. They will resist, but what to do? Either they have to become part of an evolutionary process or they have to disappear from the earth.”
(Excerpted from: From Bondage to Freedom, Chapter 10, Question 1)

More than 20 years ago, Osho has spoken at length on terrorism while he was staying in Uruguay during the world tour which was sabotaged by every possible means in particular by the government of the U.S.A. because Osho was considered a dangerous man to society. Since then, the global situation of violence and terror has increased and there is only one way out: to wake up!

“…without freedom you cannot rejoice. You live in fear, not in joy. If we can clean the basement of the human mind’s unconscious… and that’s what my work is. It can be cleaned away. The terrorism is not in the bombs, in your hands; the terrorism is in your unconscious.

Otherwise, this state of affairs is going to grow more bitter. And it seems all kinds of blind people have bombs in their hands and are throwing them at random. The third world war would have relieved people for ten or, fifteen years. But the third world war cannot happen because if it happens it won’t relieve people, it will only destroy people.

So individual violence will increase – it is increasing. And all your governments and all your religions will go on perpetuating the old strategies without understanding the new situation.

The new situation is that every human being needs to go through therapies, needs to understand his unconscious intentions, needs to go through meditations so that he can calm down, become cool – and look towards the world with a new perspective, of silence.”
(Excerpted from-Beyond Psychology, Chapter 18, Question- 1)
Terrorism is not new, though it has come in a new incarnation. Historically, the Huns, Taimur Lane, Nadirshah, Mahmood Gaznavi, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, all are part of a chain of terrorists down to the modern day. Many may perceive the British as terrorists citing the gory incident of Jalianwala Baug. The major difference is now the phenomenon of terrorism is no longer limited to a particular area or a geographical territory. It has become globalized. Now everyone in the world feels threatened and terrorized. It seems, psychologically, people have carried the feeling of terror within, the present day terrorists have only magnified it on a global scale.

Terrorism is the result of entrapment of soul in ideology. Any ideology, whether religious, political, or social, when becomes a closed system turns harmful. Idea is an open invitation to reflect, to search, to experiment. However, when an ideology is woven around it fanaticism and rigidity begin to strangle society. While an idea represents a free expression of thought, ideology is imposed to serve vested interests. In the imposition of an ideology the individual is not the concern, the system, the pattern and the conditioned view is the central force. Ideology when forced brings violence; violence is used to justify the rightness of ideology.

Terrorism is an ideological violence essentially rooted in unconscious human behavior. It shows its heinous form when governed by hypnotic conditioning. Osho points out, “Terrorism is not in the bombs in your hand; terrorism is in your unconscious.” Religion, in most cases, has proven Marx right for functioning as “opium” and has consequently rained terror on men, women and children. Ironically, more often than not religion has taken God for a ride and has sold ideology around it with force, often brutal.

So the question now is, whether mankind can break out of self-reinforcing process of violent aggressiveness or is it resigned to go on passively subjecting itself to it. According to Freud, it is natural to be violent, aggressive. He stops here, but if this is taken to be the final point, then there is no scope for evolution. One just has to live with it or find some temporary solution: alcohol, drug or a shrink. The belief that we are naturally aggressive serves to excuse our aggression rather than take responsibility for it. This robs man away from his potential to grow, to transform.

Marx, on the other hand, said existence is the essence of being, hence, the society, the history, the living conditions are responsible for man’s actions. The man is not to be blamed for his acts. He insisted on changing the society, the outer structure. Here again, man was absolved from his responsibility. So, if we were to follow Freud and Marx, we will end up never realizing our true potential – our present actuality will remain an actuality.

Nevertheless, it is apparent that as a species we have, in our evolutionary process, made our genes work for us. We have shown that regardless of the environment or the social milieu, individuals such as Buddha have overcome the odds and gone beyond the biological and psychological barriers. Studies have also shown how aggressive and antisocial individual behavior is related to family and socio-cultural influences.

The critical factor is how well we are successful in channeling the energy, in transforming the energy of aggression and violence into love and compassion. Osho has shown the way toward materializing this change. His basic insight is :

“What happens with your sex energy depends on how you use it. What it can become does not depend on it alone, but on your understanding and on how you live your life. Have you not observed that it becomes brahmacharya, the state of celibacy when it is transformed? Bramhacharya is not hostile to passion; brahmacharya is the purification, the transcendence, the sublimation of passion. In the same way, the energy that manifests itself in violence becomes peace, serenity and tranquility. It is only a question of transformation. The energy that manifests itself in violence becomes peace, serenity and tranquility. It is only a question of transformation”.
(The Long, the Short and the All, Ch. 6)

Existing nuclear and biological weapons have placed humanity at grave risk. Hence, in the context of our present day-to-day reality, how do we keep the human life free from terrorism? How do we transform the energy used for terrorism into concord and tranquility? The first need obviously is to get out of the trap of dogmatic, closed, blind following of religion. But along with that we will have to be vigilant and pro-active, speak out against the regimented conditioning imposed by the custodians of “religion”. We will need to bring more celebration in our life – more joy, more laughter. A happy person can never become a terrorist. We will have to move from Gun Culture to Fun Culture. Osho’s insight is, life is not a problem to be solved by violent means; it is indeed a gift to be shared by living joyously.

What we need in essence is a commitment to making this world for our future generation a better place to live and enjoy. First, we need to make a conscious commitment to be free of all conditionings, patterns of belief and behavior, trappings of de-humanizing ideologies. Further, we need to help our children remain free from all that breeds hatred, violence, prejudice, aggression.

We need to help them develop the quality of what Osho calls “religiousness” rather than having them follow religion blindly. We need a vision that would raise our consciousness higher so that we may take care of our lower instincts of hate and violence, greed and power. The sages remind us: bhumaiva sukham, naalpe sukhamasti, the true happiness is in growing, in expanding our consciousness; there is no happiness in being narrow and fragmented.

Osho’s observation is that the twenty first century has brought us to a crossroad. We are, of course, moving ahead in leaps and bound as far as our horizontal growth is concerned. But we have also reached to a point where we need to work on our vertical growth as well. Along with material gains, Osho explains, we will have to move vigorously toward enhancing our emotional and spiritual growth. He says, the horizontal seems to be taking us somewhere, but reaches no where – it is just like chasing horizon. The vertical, on the other hand, does not seem to be taking us anywhere, and yet, it leads us towards a point where being human, being an individual, being a spirit takes a new meaning, a new value, a new dimension.

As pointed out by Osho, we need to go back to the basics,: Awareness, Understanding, Meditation (AUM). Under the prevailing conditions, the greatest challenge before us is to heal our mind and body. We are a wounded civilization. So, how do we heal ourselves? Osho’s prescription is : “As you become more and more meditative, your energies become non-aggressive. Your violence disappears; love arises.” This is transformation. And, transformation is the antidote to terrorism.
So often does one come across gruesome incidents of terrorist violence that one feels utterly helpless about it. The politicians are quick to issue statements that culprits will be brought to book and nobody will be spared. The religionists and the moralists will give their sermons. And still more terrible incidents of terrorism keep happening and make a mockery of statements and claims.

People are becoming cynical about such statements and discourses–and progressively insensitive to respond. The explosions of violence are becoming bigger and bigger and human sensitivity is becoming weaker and weaker. It only shows that something is essentially wrong with human society today. It is unable to reach the roots of violence and eradicate it.

Each explosion of terrorism is linked with what we have been in the past. It is a chain reaction–the chain that is becoming bigger and stronger everyday. Politicians are unable to understand this, and others have no power to do anything about it.

Talking on this subject of terrorist violence Osho shared his insights decades ago. He said, “Everything is deeply related with everything else that happens. The event of terrorism is certainly related with what is happening in the society. The society is falling apart. Its old order, discipline, morality, religion, everything has been found to be wrongly based. It has lost its power over people’s conscience.”

“Terrorism simply symbolizes that to destroy human beings does not matter, that there is nothing in human beings which is indestructible, that it is all matter—and you cannot kill matter, you can only change its form. Once man is taken to be only a combination of matter, and no place is given for a spiritual being inside him, then to kill becomes just play.”

Man lives in starvation of not just a piece of bread but love also. And on top of it he lives in unconsciousness. He is sitting on the volcano of unfulfilled desires and needs. He is desperate. And this desperation can be exploited by clever politicians and clergies. They use him–in fact, he is misused by them. These terrorists are poor people: Osho says : “And all those terrorists are coming from these poor countries, with the same weapons that have been sold to their countries. And they have a strange protection: you cannot use nuclear weapons against them, you cannot throw atom bombs at them. They can throw bombs at you and you are suddenly impotent.”

Making a point about their anger Osho says : “Man accumulates so much anger, so much rage, so much violence, that nothing short of a war will give him release. So, war after war, there is a gap of only ten to fifteen years. That gap is a kind of relaxation. But again you start accumulating, because the same psychology is working—the same jealousy, the same violence.”

“Every man is living in a disagreement with himself. So whenever he can find a chance—for a beautiful cause; freedom, democracy, socialism—any beautiful word can become an umbrella to hide his ugly unconscious, which simply wants to destroy and enjoys destruction. Now the world war has become almost impossible; otherwise there would have been no terrorism.”

Never before was the search so acute, so intense, because never before was man in such an anguish as he is today. The search always comes out of anguish. Whenever there is great anguish, the anguish becomes a challenge, one has to search for something which is so meaningful that the anguish can be dissolved through it. When the darkness is very very deep, only then does one search for light.

And the darkness is really deep. This is one of the darkest of ages: never before has man been in such a disturbed, confused chaos. Because all the old values have disappeared. Man is no more rooted in the past, there are no more any goals in the future, all utopias have failed. Man is utterly desperate now to know what to do and where to go.

In the past it has happened many times that a certain value became valueless, another value took its place, it was substituted. One religion died, another took its place. When an idealism was found futile, another better vision, more golden, was immediately available. What has happened this time is that all the ideals have failed and there are no more substitutes. It is not that one value has failed and another has come into being; that is not much of a change. This time, value as such has failed and there is utter darkness, nowhere to go. This is the greatest challenge to human awakening.

Coming from the psychological, inner perspective that I do, I think first, always, of the individual and the story of our lives. I have tended to use my life and all the myriad experiences that I have had since the very beginning, as examples, metaphors, as touchstones to understanding; and through feeling and sensing what is happening in the other to find a context to make some sense of it; a way to bring equanimity and peace to my heart through it all; and to bring positive change in some way, even if so small as to hold the light over individuals in their challenges, over distressed countries and their people in such suffering and pain.

And yes even with the current out-of-all-proportions world situation; all the killing, hurting, bombing, kidnapping, terrorizing and imprisoning; the earthquakes, floods, droughts and hurricanes; the disenfranchisement of millions of individual men, women, children and animals who seem to be so innocently caught in the midst of all these horrendous situations. Whether they are “natural” or man-made, the fact is that it is a distress that everyone feels and a little light although so needed, seems pitifully small.

I see suppression and repression as being behind the terrorism that has broken out like a wildfire in our time. We are reaching an apex where all that has been held down is bursting open and can no longer be contained; in people and also in governments, conglomerates and institutions. All the dirty laundry is now coming out to be aired, to be cleaned. As people are erupting, their good, bad and ugly is coming out and rising to the surface.

Every man is living in a disagreement with himself. So whenever he can find a chance ? for a beautiful cause; freedom, democracy, socialism ? any beautiful word can become an umbrella to hide his ugly unconscious, which simply wants to destroy and enjoys destruction. Now the world war has become almost impossible; otherwise there would have been no terrorism

Everything is deeply related with everything else that happens. The event of terrorism is certainly related with what is happening in the society. The society is falling apart. Its old order, discipline, morality, religion, everything has been found to be wrongly based. It has lost its power over people’s conscience.
OSHO

And coincidentally here in Hawaii a new eruption of Kilauea Volcano has just happened, not even two months ago, at Halema’uma’u Crater and has changed the climate where I live, has changed everything in fact. There is a new feeling in the air because of increased vog (volcano fog or cloud) and people’s moods are different because the weather is altered and an over-reactive and inaccurate press story has frightened off some visitors so tourism is down. On top of that, one of our local long-time airlines, Aloha airlines, has gone out of business as well as a mainland airlines that flew directly to the Big Island. And with rising oil and gas prices, food and everything else prices, the local economy is of some concern.

The discussion of the over inflated oil prices could also nicely fit into this category of suppression and terrorism on an economical level. It is this writer’s guess that there are only a few maybe one or two hands on the oil spigot shutting it on and off at will chuckling all the way to their bank and I mean their bank.

But all of this has motivated Big Island businesses to partner with other businesses around the island, ostensibly for survival, but in the process bringing a welcome unifying force here where before there was separateness, division and competition. So I see the new eruption as heralding a rebirth on the Big Island. And I hope that this is what will also be happening on a larger scale in the world.

In the meanwhile it’s as if the world has split itself up into two parts. Well at least two parts. We’ve always had the good guys and the bad guys; the dark horse and the white horse; those with higher values and goals far beyond only themselves and those whose concerns are closer to the surface and shallower surfaces at that. But now the dualities have reached catastrophic proportions and everywhere I look in the world there is some catastrophe taking place.

I notice that the word terrorists (formerly called rebels, criminals, mobs, gangs, revolutionaries) waiting to murder people they have no idea who they are, has become so familiar, like a buzz-word, that it almost no longer strikes terror.

Let me here try to make a distinction between suppression and repression as they are so interchangeable and might be still in this article. I will tend to use suppression to mean something that is kept pushed down, hidden away mostly by ourselves. And repression here is the act of suppressing or forcing suppression upon others, as well as ourselves.

We know about the repression that we go through from the start of life. And Osho has spoken so much and so often, of our conditioning from parents, from society in general, from each country, each religion, each era and of how our conditioning came about and its consequences.

First of all, the child has to learn to curb his/her crying and then his/her laughing. This was certainly so in my case. The parent has to feel it’s appropriate in order for it to be acceptable. How to speak and when to speak and when not to speak. The suppression of one’s truth is learned here, and not so much learned as painfully experienced. And one learns about the two faces. The face at home alone and the face when with company. One learns about no longer touching the body and because of that becoming ashamed of it and afraid of it and all the feelings stored there in the delicious little parts. And so sexual repression and the suppressed feelings stay waiting, and building pressure within. And so it goes on growing, getting bigger in school, in Sunday school perhaps, in church, synagogue or in the temple and into greater society, getting heavier and stronger. And we are further and further away from the delectable kernel of who we are.

Nobody is what he was meant by existence to be. The society, the culture, the religion, the education that have all been conspiring against innocent children. They have all the powers-the child is helpless and dependent, so whatsoever they want to take out of him, they manage to do it. They don’t allow any child to grow to his natural destiny. Their every effort is to make human beings into utilities. Who knows, if a child is left on his own to grow, whether he will be of any use to the vested interests or not? The society is not prepared to take the risk. It grabs the child and starts molding him into something that is needed by the society. In a certain sense, it kills the soul of the child and gives him a false identity so that he never misses his soul, his being. The false identity is a substitute. But that substitute is useful only in the same crowd which has given it to you. The moment you are alone, the false starts falling apart and the repressed real starts expressing itself. Hence the fear of being lonely. Nobody wants to be lonely. Everybody wants to belong to a crowd-not only one crowd, but many crowds. A person belongs to a religious crowd, a political party, a Rotary Club and there are many other small groups to belong to. One wants to be supported twenty-four hours a day because the false, without support, cannot stand. The moment one is alone, one starts feeling a strange craziness. For so many years you believed yourself to be somebody, and then suddenly in a moment of loneliness you start feeling you are not that. It creates fear: then who are you?

And years of suppression…it will take some time for the real to express itself. The gap between the two has been called by the mystics, “the dark night of the soul” – a very appropriate expression. You are no more the false, and you are not yet the real. You are in a limbo, you don’t know who you are.

Particularly in the West, the problem is even more complicated because they have not developed any methodology to discover the real as son as possible, so that the dark night of the soul can be shortened. The West knows nothing as far as meditation is concerned. And meditation is only a name for being alone, silent, waiting for the real to assert itself. It is not an act, it is a silent relaxation-because whatever you “do” will come out of your false personality… all your doing, for so many years, has come out of it. It is an old habit. Habits die hard. So many years of living in a false personality imposed by people whom you loved, whom you respected…and they are not intentionally doing anything bad to you. Their intentions were good, just their awareness was nil. They were not conscious people-your parents, your teachers, your priests, your politicians-they were not conscious people, they were unconscious. And even a good intention in the hands of an unconscious person turns out to be poisonous.
OSHO
The Courage To Be Just Yourself

I can relate all of this to myself and the inner process within me. The right side of my body has been tightening, contracting its movement and flexibility, shutting down bit by bit, hurting and I have been watching this happening. The right wrist, ankle, right hip, the knee, the right side of the neck, the right shoulder, the right eye, canine tooth, and as of 3 days ago, the liver. Now this didn’t just happen all at once and altogether. It has been little by little, so I didn’t connect the dots until recently.

It seems that the dark is taking over. So the only power that the right side of the body has had, has been to stop, contract, refuse to move. And that is what it’s done. With a sore liver I realized that I can’t keep going on as I’ve been. My body had taken on as much as it could for me and my nervous system is overloaded.

I have felt such anger. Surprising as I thought it had been cleared out years ago. Then moments of anxiety, almost panic. It seems to me that this must have been inside and very deep for a very long time. Maybe eons and clearly whatever has been there is now wanting to release so I let it. Never before have I allowed so much. And the taunts come.

Here you are in a life that is finished, your passion and joy gone, and you are still holding onto the old, and the new you don’t take any steps towards. Where is your courage? What has happened to you? Have you lost yourself? Are you mad? Things are happening around you and you do nothing. You are getting left behind.

And together with this, such emptiness has arisen and where there used to be a natural confidence, an ebullient energy, a knowing, nothing seems to be stirring apart from these suffering feelings and corrosive thoughts. I know from the signs I am given in meditation that this has to be and it’s okay, that it has not been fully allowed in the past and I must simply allow now, for it all to release.

If I were someone else, then maybe I would pick up a rifle or a machine gun or a grenade and go and kill someone responsible for my plight or join a worthy cause of someone else’s. What man does to man I can understand because aspects within me represent the tortured and the torturer, the repressor and the repressed.

When I am working, performing a lovely ceremony, all I experience is love and beingness. But as soon as I come back to myself, I am back to my civil war. What I have just gloriously found is that the antidote, and the only one, is to be absolutely present in each moment. Taking the advice I gave to someone a couple of days ago : “Slow down. Be in the moment and don’t get too far ahead of yourself”. When playing music that means I focus on the note I am about to play, not anything behind or ahead. And this is bringing a union within myself, moment by moment. A rebirth.

And this is what I see in the world. People with all these instabilities and huge emotions, fears and insecurities have not been able, or have chosen not to go within, but to find a reason outside themselves for whatever their complaints seem to be and then act them out becoming violent and terrorists.

I think of those poverty-stricken young boys and young men in the third world countries, specifically Afghanistan and that region. They have been taught to not expect too much, that they don’t deserve a lot and will not receive it anyway. And they believe it. They don’t want to believe it, but deep down they are afraid even to dream, for their dreams can never come true. But they are corruptible for those desires, those dreams that they see realized in others, in the wealthy and well-endowed, in the west; they see the ease and elegance that exists for others. How can they possibly achieve that?

So their dreams can be bought and brought to life when told that by fighting for their homeland and their religion, for the Glory of God and the financial betterment of their families, rewards will come. They themselves will be rewarded later after death and then their dreams will come true. All their suffering and sacrifice on earth will bring glory afterwards. And glory at least is something!

To feel useful and powerful, looked up to by those around you even for a very short time, is something after all. It doesn’t happen in everyday life nor is there hope for it in the future. And looking around at the elders, their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, nothing much seems to be acquired at the end, that looks any better than was at the beginning.

“And you cannot condemn the man for killing a stranger… because he is not a thief; he did not take anything from him. He is not an enemy; he did not even see who was the man he was killing. He was simply bored with life and he wanted to do something that made him feel significant, important. He is happy that all the newspapers have his photo. If they had published his photo before, he would not have killed; but they waited ? until he kills they will not publish his photo. And he wanted to be a celebrity… just ordinary human desires. And he was ready to pay with his life to become, at least for one day, known to the whole world, recognized by everybody. Until we change the basic grounds of humanity, terrorism is going to become more and more a normal, everyday affair. It will happen in the airplanes, it will happen in the buses. It will start happening in the cars. It will start happening to strangers. Somebody will suddenly come and shoot you ? not that you have done anything to him, but just, the hunter is back. The hunter was satisfied in the war. Now the war has stopped and perhaps there is no possibility for it. The hunter is back; now we cannot fight collectively. Each individual has to do something to release his own steam.”

But what is wrong at the root of everything are the divisions within us suppressing our wholeness, joy, hope, happiness and creativity, as well as the divisions between people, classes countries, between religions. We should be one world, one people and everyone with equal opportunity to everything. Otherwise there is always going to be the dualities of fairness and unfairness; have and have not; those controlled and those controlling; the repressors in authority and the repressed who have to obey. And there will always be rage suppressed by all the layers of pain, lack and disappointment, insecurity and inequality and always be conflict in one way or another.

I know this view of being one people is impossible, that it’s also very unrealistic for this world. Sounds a bit naïve I know, but doesn’t it sound wonderful? And I do come from a family background of socialists, so there it is leaking out. I happen to believe that this earth is a university and has to provide every level of experience that is needed for a soul to grow and evolve, from its very first incarnation onwards to graduation, and to a different existence. Earth is the place to learn about all of life, from the gross to the subtle, from hell to heaven and everything in between.

The difference between people relative to terrorism, from an abusive neighbor to the uni-bomber, is that the less evolved soul will take all that is lacking in his life or festering within him and blame it on someone, be it a person, a race, a job, an animal, a child, or a country and use it against them. A soul who has lived long enough, who has experienced and learned from many lifetimes, when faced with repressed feelings and old painful patterns, will look within and find ways to release the inner freedom yearning to come to full life and expression. Not pick up a gun or fight for something that does not resolve or release the old source.

This holds the key to what follows and how we can return to our natural state of joy and spontaneity, be the true essence of who we are, the intelligent, creative, abundant, full expansive beings that we are all capable of being, and living from here bring such grace, gratitude and enlightenment to the world around us. Fill the air with the buzzing of joy and the fragrance of sweetness.

So having said that, it means to me that there will always be, as has historically been, peace and war and peace and war. And the conflicts and difficulties, the challenges, pleasures, achievements and lessons for the individual and the collective that this world has always dealt with, will continue. And it remains that evolution happens on an individual level or with groups of like individuals who are totally committed to their awakening. Business as usual.

Although with each generation, with each millennium, each eon, we see development, advances, progress and quantum shifts previously unimaginable. So the same personal experiences keep on happening in us individually but in more rarified environments and lifestyles, as the level of progress of that time dictates.

I mentioned this theory to a dear friend who is a beautiful and enlightened woman and she just looked at me and then looked away. Said nothing but looked and in such a way that I had the feeling that she was not in agreement. But as nothing was said, I still have my theory intact.

Look at the last 100 years and what has transpired! Unbelievable. I remember as a child the biggest treat I could have would be if, when walking back from school, the milkman would stop and let me get into his milk wagon and hold the horse’s reins. Wow! That was really something special! And that was far less than 100 years ago. Now we have digital everything and instant communication everywhere, super jets, a level of advanced technology, cloning, stem cell medical miracle potentials and more of what not too long ago was sci-fi.

There is so much potential while at the same time our planet is almost all used up. It’s a quixotic irony. I just read in the paper this morning that President Bush has given permission across the board to seven oil companies in Alaska in the Chukchi Sea to “annoy and potentially harm” the polar bears, meaning of course kill them if not by a bullet then by destroying their home and environment. This in pursuit of oil and natural gas.

The terrorism is not in the bombs, in your hands; the terrorism is in your unconscious.
OSHO

“My understanding is that the way he has lived, man needs — every ten to twelve years — a war. He accumulates so much anger, so much rage, so much violence, that nothing short of a war will give him release. So, war after war, there is a gap of only ten to fifteen years. That gap is a kind of relaxation. But again you start accumulating because the same psychology is working — the same jealousy, the same violence. And man is basically a hunter; he is not by nature vegetarian.

First he became a hunter, and for thousands of years he was just a meat-eater, and cannibalism was prevalent everywhere. To eat human beings caught from the opposing tribe you were fighting with was perfectly ethical. All that is carried in the unconscious of humanity. Religions have imposed things on man very superficially; his unconscious is not in agreement. Every man is living in a disagreement with himself. So whenever he can find a chance — for a beautiful cause; freedom, democracy, socialism — any beautiful word can become an umbrella to hide his ugly unconscious, which simply wants to destroy and enjoys destruction…… It can only be prevented if we change the very base of human understanding — which is a Himalayan task because these same people whom you want to change will fight you; they who’d allow you to change them easily. In fact they love bloodshed; they don’t have the courage to say so.”
OSHO
Beyond Psychology #18

The most deadly game in the world toady is terrorism. Killing hundreds without warning, injuring hundreds more, destroying property and spreading horror, panic and fear, terrorists know no boundaries, no religion.

But who is a terrorist? General Dyer of Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar? Or Bhagat Singh, the freedom fighter? Guerrilla leader Fidel Castro or the corrupt and unpopular Batista regime in Cuba? Or President John Kennedy who approved the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba? Kenya’s Mau Mau ‘terrorists’ in the 1950s? Or the colonial Government who hunted and killed hundreds of thousands of them later called ‘freedom fighters’? Those who destroyed a mosque? Or the fanatics who triggered Bombay Blasts? The Government that trained the Tamil Tigers? Or the Tamil Tiger Bomber who assassinated the Prime Minister? The United States that trained the Taliban against the Soviet Union to fight in Afghanistan? Or the Jehadis who attacked New York and Washington on 9/11?

In politics and religion, friends turn into foes and terrorists become freedom fighters. With no holds barred, Osho hits out at the disease of terrorism over two decades ago and he traced its roots in religion before it erupted in politics. Today, religion and politics intertwine in terrorism. It is a lethal and fatal virus against which there seems no cure. But Osho suggests a remedy. Since he suffered at the hands of both the priests and the politicians, only he has the courage to declare, “Governments are to save people from terrorism, are here governments are supplying money and arms and food to terrorists. And then they go on lying…”

When everybody is admiring the King’s robes; like that innocent and pure child, only Osho declares, “The King has no clothes!”
Terrorism is one of those words we use as a euphemism, that is, we rarely look at what it really is. We use the word to refer to violence by people whom we don’t support and whom we fear— it’s what the others, the bad guys do. Terrorism that we support is called freedom fighting, security, or war. As Osho said when he was accused of being a threat to the public good:

“One has to understand that everything is relative, not ultimate; hence what appears to be good to one person may look evil to another. And there is no contradiction: both may be right.

What is good depends on your preconceived ideas; so does evil.

The British government thinks my entry even for an overnight stay in England, is not conducive to the public good. The same government is ready to allow American bombers, missiles, to use their bases, to destroy a small country like Libya, and to the government this seems to be conducive to public good.

There is no inconsistency. In their eyes their society, their culture, their religion, their country has to be saved at any cost, because they think they stand for good—although the British government has tortured humanity more than any other government in the world. For three hundred years it has been the greatest terrorist possible; it killed millions of people around the world, to create the greatest empire of history. This government is absolutely in tune with the American imperialistic ideology.

Out of necessity it has been compelled to give freedom to the countries of its empire, but not willingly and joyously. Those countries had to fight for almost one century, without any arms. They were butchered, without any consideration of human values.” (Excerpted from: Beyond Psychology, Chapter-10)

The real meaning of terrorism, the nonpolitical meaning, is any use of violence or the threat of violence to control others through fear. When we look at it like that, we see that terrorism is all around us and that terrorism begets terrorism. If some group blows up a building, there will be politicians who rush in and feed on the fear that results. These politicians will say that they must have more power, more control, and most people will be too fearful to complain. Then the politicians will use this new power to start their own terrorist campaign against those they don’t like, against those they fear as a threat to their power.

“Adolf Hitler writes in his autobiography that unless you create hostility amongst your neighbor nations, you can never become strong; keep always people afraid that the enemy is going soon, soon you will be destroyed. That fear will keep them strong and ready to order and surrender and trust and believe anything the leader says.” (Excerpted from: The Last Testament, Vol 3, Chapter #2)

The 9/11 destruction of the two towers in New York, for example, was the best thing that ever happened to George Bush. His popularity was so low at the time that he would not have been elected for his current term. But after the crisis he fed on the fear and promoted the fear to such an extent that people were afraid to change. Now, when the fear has calmed down, he is an unpopular as ever. In the meantime he created Homeland Security, held innocent Islamic people for years without charges or evidence, and authorized torture of political prisoners. He is clearly a terrorist in the true sense of the word. In this way, acts of violence that we call terrorism quickly become oppression and repression by the controlling politicians as long as people can be manipulated through their fear.

George Bush has a particularly terrorist mind. (We can recall the relish and enthusiasm with which he condemned people to die when he was governor of Texas.) But he is not unique. Most politicians chose that profession because they are ambitious for power. Whenever there is widespread fear, anywhere in the world, there will be people to feed on it and use it to control others. There will always be Adolf Hitlers and George Bushs ready to take advantage of fear.

Of course, it is not just the politicians who do this. Religions have been controlling through fear for millennia. There are few religions that don’t have at least one hell where people will be cast for misdeeds. The idea of these hells is almost always promoted by people in hierarchical religious positions who claim that people must obey them (and often support them in style) in order to avoid a sentence to hell. If there isn’t a hell, there will be some other judgment or retribution, like reincarnation as a dung beetle.

These threats of divine or existential retribution keep people repressed and oppressed and keep many religious leaders in power. This fear prevents people from finding their own understanding of what is right and good in each moment. It allows them to be controlled for the benefit of the religion and its leaders. This is not to say that our actions don’t have consequences, but we will never truly understand those consequences until we view them from a perspective of awareness, not of fear.

We are controlled by fear in our everyday lives as well. People work 60 or more hour weeks for fear that they will lose their jobs if they ask to have time to spend with their friends or family or to live a healthy life. Young people in America are now being told that they have to start preparing for retirement in their 20s, for fear they will starve in old age or be sick and have no health care.

The result is that we are so used to being afraid, so conditioned to being controlled through fear, that many of us do not even realize it when we are being manipulated through fear. We don’t see when an act of violence is used to create the suppression and oppression of another form of terrorism, called security.

We need to protect ourselves from violence as best we can, but in doing this we need to remain aware that there will be people trying to use the fear of violence to justify repressions and oppression of what is unpopular. And since the truth is often unpopular, and people like Osho who tell the truth are often unpopular with people who want to control others, this creates a very dangerous situation on many levels.

So what is the answer? How do we deal with terrorism without creating suppression and oppression? The answer is simple: meditation. Osho has made it clear that all our fear is based in our fear of death. That’s why random violence terrifies us and makes us vulnerable to manipulation. Only by confronting our own fear of death, can we release fear from our lives. And once we’ve released fear from our lives, we can never be controlled through fear again. We can look at each situation in the present moment and decide what is best, not from fear, but from awareness.

“In the East particularly, death is respected more than life — and the East has lived long to come to this conclusion. In the West life is more respected than death; hence so much tension, so much worry and so much anguish, so much madness.

Why? If you respect life more, you will be afraid of death, and then death will look antagonistic, the enemy; and if death is the enemy you will remain tense your whole life, because death can happen any moment. You don’t accept it, you reject it—but you cannot destroy it. Death cannot be destroyed. You can reject it; you can deny it; you can be afraid, scared, but it is there, just at the corner, always with you like a shadow. You will be trembling your whole life—and you ARE trembling. And in the fear, in all fears if searched deeply, you will find the fear of death.

Whenever you are afraid, something has given you an indication of death. If your bank goes bankrupt and you are filled with fear and trembling, anxiety—that too is anxiety about death, because your bank balance was nothing but a security against death. Now you are more open, vulnerable. Now who will protect you if death knocks at the door? If you become ill, if you become old, then who is going to take care of you? The guarantee was there in the bank, and the bank has gone bankrupt.

You cling to prestige, power, position, because when you have a position you are so significant that you are more protected by people. When you are not in power, you become so impotent that nobody bothers in any way who you are. When you are in power you have friends, family, followers; when you are not in power, everybody leaves. There was a protection, somebody was there to care; now nobody cares. Whatsoever you are afraid of, if you search deeply you will always find the shadow of death somewhere.

You cling to a husband, you are afraid he may leave; or you cling to a wife, afraid she may leave you. What is the fear? Is it really the fear of a divorce, or is it a fear of death? It is a fear of death… because in divorce you become alone. The other gives a protection, a feeling that you are not alone, somebody else is with you. In moments when somebody else will be needed, you will have somebody to look to. But the wife has left, or the husband has left, and now you are left alone, a stranger. Who will protect you? Who will care for you when you are ill?” (Excerpted from: And The Flowers Showered, Chapter-5)

We can’t rely on the politicians to stop the cycle of terrorism, repression, and oppression. They won’t give up the opportunity for power when they’re presented with it. The only answer is to stop presenting them with that opportunity. If we cannot be manipulated through fear, they won’t succeed in using violence to justify their own violence in the form of suppression and oppression of those unpopular to them, of those they fear. If we are not afraid, they have no power over us.

Ajoy Prasadsaid

I donot support some of the arguments which says that india is shining….rather reality lies somewhere else..i have recently come accross an article titled Communalism and Separatism in india: An Analysis…the author of this article present a very black future of india..i.e India may witness the threat of second partition between Hindus and Muslims in future…after reading this article i also beleive in this….visit the link..he has analyzed pre partiton phase,Congress era, and contemporary era of liberalization..and fr him this liberalization will play an active role in future civil war and revival of two nations theory..visit this link…http://jas.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/42/6/533